Who will triumph? Who will shine? Who will be remembered, and unfortunately, who is going to be forgotten?
Medal Prospects
Mo Farah looks again pretty hot for both the 5,000m and 10,000m titles - even a non-athletics fan can look at season bests on the line up and know that they don't mean much at the major champs. There are no pacemakers and at Mo's peak, there is no strategy to defeat him unless you're going to break Bekele's world record. And there is noone in the world right now who could even be within a sniff of either of those WRs at this year's champs.That being said, Mo can be beaten - it's not impossible - and this is a great year to be looking for future golds as we will no longer be able to rely on them.
I'm excited by many prospects in the British team though.
Tom Bosworth just smashed the mile WR in race-walking. Yes, it's hardly a contested event, but Tom made such an effort to get racewalking at the anniversary games so we know he's not just trying to achieve for himself. He's set out a goal of raising the profile of racewalking in this country, and I have a feeling with a home crowd cheering him on, the boy will be so bouyed he'll walk himself into medal contention. And what a fantastic medal that would be!
To go in the surprise medal category that I am predicting, I have this inkling, perhaps false optimism, that this will be Eilidh Doyle's year. She has arguably been inconsistent this year, and took a while to really peak. But she has one of her best times of her career going into the 400m Hurdles this year - and the strength of the Americans will only play into her hands in front of a home crowd. I think peaking a bit later and shaving over a second off her season best out of the blue will give her the confidence to put in a great individual performance again in the final. At the age of 30 and the fact that this year's champs are in Britain could drive this gutsy Scottish girl to a sub-54 second for the first time in her career. The field is strong and could produce any number of champions - and the likes of Little and Muhammad, and Russell are just too unreliable to say they are definitely champions; Hejnova is off her peak, and Petersen will be in the mix, but you wouldn't say any of them are definite champions, and it'll take a mid-53s performance to win. Muhammad is Olympic champion, but do her recent performances inspire you? I doubt it. And I think Doyle has it in her to smash a mid-53s and win it... or at least sneak a medal if I stop getting too excited.
Another potential medal hope is Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the Heptathlon - and don't rule out something quite special happening in the High Jump too. This year's Heptathlon looks set to be one of the strongest yet. Thiam smashed 7000 points in Gotzis, and then 2nd & 3rd were closely contested by Schafer and Ikauniece-Admidina (who will have to be LIA from now on!). The fact that KJT broke her PB and finished 4th goes to show what standard the heptathlon is at this year. With a home crowd reminiscent of 2012, I feel that KJT is in an even stronger position to break her PB again, as she knows she can make improvements on that performance in the HJ and LJ, assuming she gets a decent SP and Javelin like she did in Gotzis. If the Shot Put does end up going well, and hell, she even throws a PB in her weakest event, there's nothing to say that wont encourage her to storm the 200m and lay down a marker in the lead by the end of the first day. It would be really exciting to see Thiam and KJT really go for it in the HJ again, and confidence assuming, the HJ is a competition where sneaky medals look to be won this year. Latitskene and Licwenko look like good medal prospects, and of course Beitia will be there and in the mix once again despite her form, but a bronze could be up for grabs!
The last real exciting prospect that Britain has for a medal is of course with Laura Muir. This girl is absolutely fantastic and I am so glad she is out flying the flag for Britain and Scotland on the athletics circuit. She hasn't just won the Diamond League, she has been right up there competing with the best and laying down world class times. This year though, there are others who have been doing something similar. When I say others, I of course mean Hassan who is having a great season. She looks formidable whatever strategy might apply, and I think Salazar has got her hitting peak at a time when women's 1500m has never looked better. Dibaba will be there, and you can't disregard a WR holder, especially after that brilliant mile she ran recently, and of course Faith Kipyegon is an Olympic champion and that final last year showed what a true raw competitor she really is. And then looking down the field, Aregawi might be around (I'm unsure what her season is doing - anyone?), Klosterhalfen is part of a fantastic young German squad who are up and coming, the Americans have Jenny Simpson who is going to be a part of that final, and under the radar in Britain is Laura Weightman who I expect to final and perform. In a fast race, most women could be dragged under 4 minutes. In a slow race, it'll be the penultimate lap which will sort the women from the girls, and Muir will have learned her lesson. But any of Dibaba, Kipyegon, Hassan and Muir will miss out, it's hard to call...but I think a home crowd means Muir has got a medal.
A quick mention to Sophie Hitchon - an Olympic bronze medallist will always now carry some weight of expectation, and she'll love a home crowd cheering her on. It could propel her to success, but as someone who does not closely follow the Hammer I feel in a poor position to discuss whether she is a true medal contender and rely on armchair fan knowledge to make a prediction. Her performance at the European Team champs was far from exciting, but naturally she has to be included in medal prospects.
The other medal prospect from the field which you can't rule out of course is Greg Rutherford. He's struggling for fitness with an injury, but he is the reigning world champion and you don't give up your crown so easily. The competition looks really good this year, but then Rutherford has always managed to pull it out of the bag, on the day, where others with greater expectations have fallen short. A fit and healthy raring-to-go Rutherford has to be considered a strong medal prospect.
Finally, the men's 4x100m is our best chance of a relay medal - I think the women's 4x100m looks strong too, but the men's has something special about it. The only problem is, and I can almost guarantee that this will happen, we will drop the baton in the heats or the final. The squad aren't use to competing with each other, they are from too many different camps under too many different coaches. The phenomenal teams of 1999 and 2004 were used to passing the baton to each other. Selecting the four to run in the final will be made on potential rather than prospect, but it's a shame because as the 2004 final showed, if you get the baton round you don't need to have the very, very best. Noone is holding off Bolt on swan song, especially with Blake back to near best again, but a bronze is definitely up for grabs if they concentrate.
For the future...
Moving nicely on from the men's 4x100m squad, the women's 4x100m squad are definite medal contenders, but I am more excited for this team in the future. There are some great individuals in that team, and personally, I am so excited to see what Neita and Hylton are able to do in the 100 and 200 respectively. I think these two events will be the hardest events to reach the final in the whole champs (I'll save discussion of the women's sprints for another post), but they are having good seasons and it's good timing for them to have a home champs in which to again smash their PB's and do something remarkable.
Holly Bradshaw should probably not be in this section as she is not one for the future anymore...her time should be now. I think she's an outside medal contender if she grabs the bull by horns and just does what she knows she can do. I'm sure she's brimming with belief, but I'd like to see that come off in her performance. The Pole Vault has a credible field, but not one that's unbeatable. While I think Bradshaw will therefore be disappointed if she does not medal, I have a feeling that her best major champs performance yet will motivate her to much more success in the future. A Tokyo 2020 champion possibly? We all know she has the potential to do that.
Chris O'Hare is not by any means one for the future either, but you just have to look at the career of Centrowitz and the winning time of the Rio 1500m last year and think... O'Hare could replicate this in 2020! He's got a new found winning pedigree this year and another strong championship performance could give him the grounding to sneak a medal, but then win big when the next Olympics comes around too. I think some people will laugh off this idea, but the guy is still improving, he's becoming a better strategist, and the 1500 is an event you have to look at and say strategy is the central ingredient to success. If it's fast or slow, as long as he makes the final, he will use this championship as a huge learning curve for the rest of his career whatever the outcome, because I think this is his strongest year yet.
And then there's Jake Wightman in the 1500m too. I'm excited by his prospects...but that's only because he did win a Diamond League event. That was a surprising victory - and I will definitely be keeping an eye on him - but I want to see something of similar calibre and pace before cementing Wightman as a bright spark for the future.
Andrew Pozzi and Jack Green look exciting to watch in the hurdles - and again they are athletes I look to see in the future stepping up and challenging for the top places...but the athlete I am most excited about is Ashley Bryant. I won't be talking about the Decathlon today, but Bryant has been known on the Athletics scene for a while and he's in really good form this year. He's not the youngest, but he is someone in an event possibly entering a new era who could give the top 8 a real shake up. Whether that translates into a late bloom for the 2019 worlds and 2020 games is another discussion, but I'm excited to watch his performance this year nonetheless.
For the girls, the exciting talents I haven't mentioned yet have to include a seasoned and consistent performer in Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, who has been allowed to fly under the radar of Lindsey Sharp for British women's 800m running and now can take centre stage with another final at this year's worlds. However getting to that final is tough. Wambui, Nyonsaba and Semenya are almost an undefeatable top 3 again, but the US have some good 800m runners and so do the Europeans, Oskan-Clarke and Sharp included. That will be an event I will have to post about, but really looking forward to seeing how Oskan-Clarke battles the rounds again.
Jess Judd is another athlete who I am excited to see how she does in the rounds - Laura Muir could incentivise Judd on to great things in the future, and I hope Judd keeps cool and unleashes the potential we all saw in her younger days. However, her focus should be on the under-23 championships this year and I think it's just great she will compete and get experience at this year's worlds regardless of how she does.
